Consideration for parent's student loans and child's disability

Paying for College
1

<p>First, we have our own student loans we are paying off and seemingly, will be forever. Plus, we have a child with a disability where we have been paying a lot of money for a long time for medical bills, therapies, special teachers, etc. We have put away only the smallest amount of money. Also, our oldest, who is going to college in 2 years, was born in to the NICU. He was born less than a year after my husband and I graduated from college. So we had to originally defer the students loans for a while. </p>

<p>So, I am concerned about paying for school, while still getting help for my son who has autism, and so on. My husband currently makes about $160,000 a year, which sounds like a lot, until you figure how much just 1 week of therapy, doctor, special school, and such costs for my son. (insurance covers a little when we go in network, but most things such as the school, and some of the therapies are not covered). Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Make sure you keep very careful records of your medical expenses. You’ll likely have to request a special circumstances adjustment to your EFC. Basically, after your student is accepted and you’ve filed FAFSA, etc., you’ll have to submit an appeal based on your extraordinary expenses to the financial aid office at his school. They will require supporting documents and msy make an adjustment to your EFC based on those expenses. Some schools will consider your other child’s tuition expenses as well. But, afaik, none will consider your student loans. Finaid.org has a decent amount of info on requesting professional judgement and some colleges have guidelines and procedures posted on their websites. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Much will depend on what kind of stats your son has. If his stats won’t likely get him admitted to the best schools that have a lot of aid to give, then he probably won’t get enough money.</p>

<p>For instance…if your son were to apply to your state’s flagship which might cost about $25k per year for tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc…you may not get anything other than a small student loan…unless his stats would get him a merit scholarship (if the school gives merit scholarships). </p>

<p>Most schools (public and private) do NOT have much aid to give. Most cannot meet need.</p>

<p>Right now, your EFC is going to be over $50k per year. I doubt you’re going to be able to get your EFC down to Pell Grant levels with an income of $160k per year. </p>

<p>You mention something about (insurance covers a little when we go in network,. Does that mean that sometime you go out of your network and then have to pay? You may not be able to afford to keep doing that. Or, maybe I misunderstood.</p>

<p>Are you saying that you have student loans from 16 years ago? When will they be paid off?</p>

<p>Anyway…I don’t think you can be overly optimistic about getting enough consideration to get a $160k income’s EFC down to an affordable level.</p>

<p>How much can you afford to contribute each year to your son’s college costs?</p>

<p>If the answer is little or not much, then you need to tell your son that his stats (GPA and SAT/ACT scores) need to be as high as they can so he can get some big merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Did he take the PSAT as a soph? If so, how did he do? Make sure he takes the PSAT in October and studies for it as well.</p>

<p>What kind of student is your son?</p>

<p>What state do you live in?</p>

<p>You say that your H earns $160k. Are you employed as well?</p>

4

<p>There is a medical allowance in the EFC formula, and only medical costs in excess of the allowance can be considered. In situations like the OP’s, carefully documented medical expenses in excess of the allowance <em>can</em> be considered. They would have to be REALLY high to make a typical family with $160,000 in earnings/year Pell eligible, though.</p>

5

<p>*They would have to be REALLY high to make a typical family with $160,000 in earnings/year Pell eligible, though. *</p>

<p>That’s the problem. </p>

<p>It’s unlikely that the family is spending $30k per year in uncovered medical costs over the allowance for a child with autism. </p>

<p>But, even if the family was spending that much, the family’s remaining income would still be high enough that schools would expect a substantial family contribution.</p>

6

<p>You won’t get any consideration for your student loans because that was your decision. The odds that you will get an adjustment for your alleged medical bills is… infinitesmally low. My advice – find a cheaper school or send kiddo to a CC for 2 years.</p>

7

<p>*My advice – find a cheaper school or send kiddo to a CC for 2 years. *</p>

<p>Or look for merit scholarship opportunities from the colleges that give them.</p>

8

<p>

I disagree with this. Under the higher education act high medical bills are one of the reasons specifically listed where a financial aid officer may make a special circumstances adjustment. It is probably one of the most common reasons for an adjustment to be made as it is one that can be easily documented. However even with an adjustment the medical bills would have to be extraordinarily high for such an adjustment to reduce a 160k income to a level where you would be eligible for federal need based aid other than loans. The pell is really the only major federal grant and it requires an EFC of 5200 ish or less, which requires a pretty low income.</p>

<p>I don’t think adjustments can be made for parent student loans though.</p>

9

<p>However even with an adjustment the medical bills would have to be extraordinarily high for such an adjustment to reduce a 160k income to a level where you would be eligible for federal need based aid other than loans.</p>

<p>I agree.</p>

<p>What would be the medical payments allowance be (expenses not covered by insurance)? Is it a set amount or does it vary by income level? </p>

<p>For instance…if it’s a set amount regardless of income - like $5k - then if a family has $15k in medical payments, would $10k “kind of” get subtracted from AGI? If that’s how it works, it would be difficult to have much impact with an income of $160k if the formula is now considering the income to be $150k.</p>

<p>However, my example may be way off.</p>

10

<p>Found this…</p>

<p>This yields the following formula:</p>

<p>Professional Judgment Adjustment =
medical/dental expenses
- insurance reimbursements
- self-employed health insurance deduction
- Health Coverage Tax Credit
- 11% of the IPA</p>

<p>Hopefully someone can explain this to us lay folks. :)</p>

11

<p>This yields the following formula:</p>

<p>PJ Adjustment =
medical/dental expenses
- insurance reimbursements
- self-employed health insurance deduction
- Health Coverage Tax Credit
- 11% of the IPA</p>

<p>I see that you subtract these things from medical expenses. But, maybe someone can explain more about the 11% of income protection allowance and how it comes into play.</p>

12

<p>It means that 11% of your protected income allowance is assumed to be money you pay out for medical expenses.</p>

<p>So say your protected income allowance (based on number in household and number in college) is $30,000 then 11% of that, $3300, is assumed to be what you spend on medical expenses. So if you ask for a special circumstances adjustment for medical expenses then only your medical expenses over that $3300 are allowed. So if you have $10,000 in (uncovered by medical insurance) medical expenses only $6700 can be used for an adjustment. Of course that does not mean the EFC will change by $6700. If the adjustment is approved then income may be adjusted by $6700 and the data is run through the EFC formula again producing a new EFC.</p>

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<p>For a dependent student using the regular EFC formula, the IPA is calculated as follows:
Number in household=2
1 in college, IPA=16230; 2 in college, IPA=13450
Number in household=3
1 in college, IPA=20210; 2 in college, IPA=17450; 3 in college=14670
Number in household=4
1 in college, IPA=24970; 2 in college, IPA=22190; 3 in college, IPA=19430; 4 in college, IPA=16650
Number in household=5
1 in college, IPA=29460; 2 in college, IPA=26680; 3 in college, IPA=23920; 4 in college, IPA=21140; 5 in college=18380
Number in household=6 or more
1 in college, IPA=34460; 2 in college, IPA=31680; 3 in college, IPA=28920; 4 in college, IPA=26140; 5 or more in college=23380</p>

<p>Find the appropriate IPA. Find 11% (multiply by 0.11!). Only qualified expenses in excess of this amount (11% of IPA) can be considered.</p>

14

<p>OK, let’s say that after all those calculations, a family is still spending $10,000 a year more in medical expenses over and above the 11%. Is the EFC then reduced by (up to) $10,000 at the discretion of the financial aid officer, or is available income reduced by (up to $10,000) with a much smaller impact on EFC – perhaps only a few thousand dollars? (I think that’s what swimcats mom was saying, but I’d like to make sure.) If it is the latter, then it wouldn’t seem to be very helpful to families with huge out-of-pocket medical costs.</p>

15

<p>No, the EFC is not reduced dollar for dollar so would not be reduced by $10,000 in that situation. The parent income on FAFSA is reduced by $10,000 and the EFC is recalculated using the reduced income and the EFC formula. For instance if the actual AGI is $100,000 it would be reduced to $90,000 then the EFC recalculated so the new EFC would reflect a $90,000 income.</p>

<p>The impact on the EFC will vary depending on each individual’s income. Several years ago we had an adjustment for medical expenses of around $10,000 and it had an impact of a little over 2,000 as far as I can remember.</p>

16

<p>Swimcatsmom is correct, as always. She has a wonderful low-paying future in financial aid if she’s ever interested. ;)</p>

17

<p>Ok, let’s see, our pretax income is about $160K. But, after all pretax deductions are out, it is closer to $130K for the AGI. I am currently spending about $1000 a month on ASD related expenses. I cannot find any in-network help for him. I know many people with children with autism spectrum disorders who spend way more. By high school, I know we will be spending more around $2500 for him a month or more. This is because high schools for children with asd run closer to $20K. Despite what many people think, there just are not good services for children with ASD. The children’s hospital has a program, in theory, that would be covered by our insurance, but we have been on the waiting list for over 2 years. No clue as to who gets priority, but it is not us. It might be people who live in the county. We actually live next county over. </p>

<p>We have 5 children so I know family size plays a role. We will have 2 in college at once starting 2013. We have been toying with relocating to a state that has far better services for children with disabilities. We receive no public assistance at all, although we have heard some receive disability medical insurance. It is more a lack of availability than anything else.</p>

18

<p>You haven’t said how strong a student your older child is.</p>

<p>If he’s a good student but doesn’t have high stats (high test scores), then it’s likely that the schools that will accept him won’t have the money to help with costs EVEN if they sympathize with your situation. </p>

<p>And…At many schools, having 2 in college at the same time doesn’t mean more aid. If one or both kids are at schools that don’t meet need, then aid could be very small…mostly loans with gaps.</p>

<p>Even with a lower AGI, your EFC is still going to be rather high.
**
How much can you afford to pay each year for your child’s college costs?** If the amount is low, then all of this finagling may be for naught because even after a “professional judgment” isn’t probably going to mean a “free ride” or near free ride for your child.</p>

<p>If your child has high stats and you end up with an unaffordable EFC, then your child will have to consider either schools that will offer big merit or commuting to a local state school.</p>

<p>If you move, you would need to do so before your older child’s senior year otherwise he won’t be “in-state” for any school when he applies to college. </p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>

<p>What are your child’s stats?</p>

19

<p>My daughter is a straight high A student, all preAP and AP courses so far and will continue as such. She tends to score well on tests. My son tends to score well on tests, but his grades do not match. His unweighted GPA is in the 86 or so range. His grades are going up and hopefully will be higher by the time he graduates. Both are taking the PSAT Oct 13 so I can give you those scores when they come out. It is just a practice round.</p>

<p>We are in Texas.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your help!</p>

20

<p>Is your son a junior? If so, then the PSAT isn’t practice for him…it’s the one that counts. </p>

<p>Your son’s GPA will likely keep him out of UT and TAMU, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be other good options for him. However, since he has a disability that seems to require lots of medical attention, does that mean that you’ll want him to go to college very close to home? If so, what options are near your home?</p>

<p>Your D may be able to get some good merit scholarships if her test scores are very high. That would be good.</p>

<p>The problem I see for your son is that his GPA might keep him out of the best schools which are the ones that give great aid. Other schools may sympathize with your situation, but they don’t have the money to help you out.</p>